N.C. Overton (ndp Andrea Hunter)

Writing a First Novel is Painful!

I wrote a quick Facebook post this morning saying that I was not in the writing mode today and it’s torturous writing a novel. In fact, I am feeling pretty tortured the last couple of days. Trying to write a novel can sometimes be like like trying to pull out my hair one strand at a time. So very painful. Other times, when things are seemingly flowing smoothly, it’s very exhilarating.

Lately, I have been trying to get the MC, Branwen, to her destination, but I know I need some action and some strife intermixed with the plot line. I work on this and come up with some nice subplots that start to take good shape. All is well, right? Wrong!!

I wake up in the wee hours of the morning and start thinking about why Branwen would believe that a spirit would come to her and expect her, a single young woman, to change the world. Then I start worrying whether my scenery is well-defined enough to help readers understand where the characters are and what they are seeing. I used to think that writing dialogue was difficult. Not so. Having come from a technical background, I don’t often think about the finer details like lighting, or the color of the walls, or the shapes of windows. I think about the meat of the story rather than the potatoes.

So, I suppose I’m wondering if I can go back, after finishing the meat, and add the potatoes. Then, I realize, this is my novel and I can write it however I want, in whatever order I want. I don’t think there’s a specific order in which to write a novel, is there? It’s pretty much up to the writer how s/he gets the work from beginning to end.

I think I’m just so frustrated with the amount time it is taking to work on this project and I feel like I should be so much further along — like done already!! I beat myself up for getting stuck and it’s difficult to stay motivated. And maybe, just maybe, now that I’ve gotten all that off my chest, I can go back and write more of this novel?